Monday, March 31, 2008

We had a small birthday cake for Laney Rae yesterday to celebrate the actual day of her birthday. Her party is next week. My family came out to help us celebrate this special day.

This girl can eat! We went to a 50s diner for lunch at the Brenham Airport.....which is excellent by the way. People fly from all over to go there and eat a hamburger and french fries. Laney Rae had half of a hamburger and french fries and then she devoured her entire cake that we bought her.

Sometimes I worry about how much this girl can put away. But, its not like we feed her hamburgers, fries, and cake every single day. She eats very healthy the majority of the time. When she eats bananas, she eats 1.5 of them- KK eats the other .5. When she eats blueberry muffins, she eats two of them. You get the drift. The girl can eat!

I went with white cake and white icing. I'm sure glad that I did. It was everywhere.

Sunday, March 30, 2008

Laney Rae is ONE today! A year ago today the Lord brought her into this world. I have been in awe today of the time racing by us this passed year. My baby is ONE!

I remember when KK was little I was ready for her to crawl, ready for her to walk, ready for her to talk, or ready for her to make it to whatever step was next.

But, after watching KK race through all of that and become the little girl that she is today in the blink of an eye, I have been enjoying Laney Rae right where she is at.....a bouncing baby girl.

Crawling means that she will soon be walking. Walking means that she will soon be talking and potty training. Potty training means that she will start school. Going to school means that they will soon graduate and venture out into the world.

What will my girls bring with them when they go out into the world? I pray that it is a deep-rooted relationship with Jesus. He is their ONLY hope.

Time with them is precious and every moment of the day with them counts. I have learned this with Laney Rae this time around. And I'm a better mother to my girls for learning that truth.

Happy Birthday my precious one.

You are a joy and a blessing to us. We are so thankful for your little life. The Lord has used you to teach me so many things. It is funny how such a small person can be used to teach you HUGE truths.

I pray that me and your daddy will reflect Christ's image to you so that you may see Him shine vividly in our home and He permeates every crevace in every room and you can't help but notice Him and want to KNOW Him. I pray that you grow up with a heart that loves and follows hard after Jesus. And that you seek to honor and bring glory to him throughout your life. I pray that me and your daddy will always point you back to the cross.

Friday, March 28, 2008

I slipped on my rubber boots (with capris) to take photos that coincide with this story.

Anytime a farmer and his wife post something of the same event on both of their blogs, it must be monumental. You can also read Jason's version HERE. It will pretty much be the same version of this story- minus anything to do with numbers, weight, mileage, fence height, etc, etc.

Can I just pause here for a moment??? I caught my husband doing this on my way out in my rubber boots and capris to take photos.

Yep, that is Jason watering...........the pigs. He had the biggest grin on his face and was having the 'best good time'! He is very fond of our pigs.

Okay, back to the story!

Yesterday began like any ordinary day out here on the farm. But, the day quickly became extraordinary within moments of Jason arriving with our first batch of Red Brangus heifers (which is most def a German word....don't cha think?).

We have been anticipating this moment for quite a while ever since Jason decided to go with a closed herd, which you could probably read volumes more about this on his blog. I was just thrilled that we were getting pretty and fancy (to me) cows that were going to have red hair and be good to eat.

....new cows to the left....

Jason drove up to the pasture that he was going to free the cows on to our property in. I took off with my camera in tote to capture the new fancy pretty animals. I quickly realized within seconds of him unloading them, the camera needed to come off, and the game face needed to come on.

We had one of the seven in the first batch of heifers that was a feisty gal. She wasn't too fond of her surroundings and so she decided there wasn't anything that was going to stop her.

Now, if you have been keeping up with us at all, you would know that we are doing rotational grazing. This basically means that the cows are confined to approximately two acres a day to eat everything down in that paddock before they move on to the next. Jason does this by using electrified rope- which probably has a more technical name- that can easily be moved. He is able to set up paddocks as they rotate so we don't have two acre squares fenced in all over the place. Any who......

This feisty heifer (how would you like to be called that???) took off running. She went through electric rope, electric fence, and headed toward our existing herd that was a good distance away. I think she was confused and didn't know what to do with herself.

The other six cows saw this happening and decided to run in the other direction through several layers of electrified rope. A cow running through fence is never a good thing. Especially when you don't have cowboy on a horse with a rope in his hand ready to take off after them. However, the six ran in a good direction, or at least better than the first feisty heifer. They were at least still tromping on our property and ended up in the pig pen.

I knew Jason was in for it with the feisty one, so I took off with him to offer him a hand. We decided to go on foot not knowing what the crazed cow was going to do. As we were walking towards the paddock she was in with our other herd on the FARTHEST point of the property, she must have once again freaked out and gotten spooked.

I was with our original herd (35 of them) trying to maintain order, peace, and serenity, while Jason was tending to the 'other' cow. The next thing I know is I see my hubby in all of his glory running back down the way we came towards the houses to get the 'buggy' as we call it- or Ranger. He was yelling to me as he was running that the cow had gotten out of the fence and was no longer on our property.

So I, being the farmer's wife that I am, take off in all of my glory sprinting towards HWY 105 ready to throw my entire being in front of this cow if she takes off towards the road. I was going to go 'rodeo' on her and see if I could tackle her to the ground. But, in the moment of my fierceness I realize that there is an electric fence and barbed wire separating me from the road that I was to throw myself down on.

I continue to run towards the highway with a gate in sight! As I was approaching the gate, farmer Jason was on the Ranger headed my way. All I could think to tell myself was to 'breathe' and 'push' because I was so close to making it to the fence almost at the same time Jason was to be passing the fence. The Ranger was my ticket to no longer running, which is always a winner in my books.

Jason spotted me running towards him out of the corner of his eye and decided to slow down enough for me to leap over the fence and sit my tired fanny on the seat right next to him. And off we went looking for this 'rogue' and 'Wiley' heifer. These are the two words that continued to freely flow from Jason's mouth from this moment forward. I have yet to figure out exactly what these mean. But, they sounded serious in the moment of all seriousness.

We took off down the small farm road that runs beside our property and spotted this feisty heifer hanging out on someone else's property who had cows as well. Their cows were staring at our new cow confused as to why there was a cow on the 'other' side of the fence.

Jason walked up to home to inform them of the intruding heifer. We thought we were close to ending this whole ordeal because it appeared to us that this cow was trapped within their fence around their home and gate. I stood in front of their gate, ready to throw myself in front of the cow if she took off again.

But, she once again out-smarted us and did something we've never seen. She leaped over the fence that was higher than most, and landed not so gracefully on the other side in the pasture with the neighbor's cows.

And there she still waits to this day.

Jason talked to our wonderful new found neighbor and they both agreed that it would be best for her to calm down over in the pasture that she ended up in.

So, we have this fancy new cow waiting in a pasture a few miles away from our house. It is all a blur to us. We went back and retraced the order of events that will be forever etched in our memories.

We can laugh about it now. But, at the time it wasn't funny in the least. We were panic stricken.

I learned something about our marriage and my husband yesterday. If there is ever a child or human being in danger or going crazy, Jason is ALWAYS the one to calm them down, calm me down, and rescue the situation. He is heroic.

But, anything directly related to farm mayhem he shuts down and his brain goes to Hawaii. We were a team yesterday and rogue Wiley heifer got the best of us. And now she sits in the distance of Yonder Way Farm peeking up through the field she temporarily resides in when she spots Jason coming by on the Ranger to check on her. She knows him well- already- and we will never forget her or yesterday.

Jason successfully brought in 3 more heifers and our new bull 'Pete' after that whole ordeal.

....Pete is the only bull in the photo, to the left. Isn't he 'purdy'?....

If you followed that whole entire story- wow! It was hard even getting the point across to you. We could have done the story more justice by having a video camera on us, but that is a bit inconvenient when you are leaping over fences.

For bearing with me and enduring the tales of a farmer's wife, here are a few other photos I snapped on my way out to the cows.

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Many of you out there may have already came across Sew, Mama, Sew! in the blogging world.

I stumbled across it months ago and have been so amazed by the variety of sewing crafts and tutorials that make up this creative blog. There are tutorials on there ranging from aprons to sewing toys to quilts. How fun!

(all of these photos were taken from Sew, Mama, Sew!)

Aren't these things adorable!?!? I can think of several people I would love to make these as gifts for.

Now my friends, this is also a desperate plea and cry for help. I don't know how to sew. I have sewn a total of two pillows and a tree skirt- circles are not my friend. Both of which made me get all nauseous and sweaty the entire time I was sewing them under adult supervision of course! I would LOVE to be able to sew. There is nothing like a handmade gift. It has been a dream of mine to be able to do this.

So, if you are a seamstress out there, where is a good place to start?

Are there any good beginner books or websites?

I have access to a sewing machine- check.

I encourage you to subscribe to this blog and browse around! Sew, Mama, Sew is filled with a ton of handmade things and also has several contributors to the blog. The ideas are endless and filled with style.

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

I've been going through every single photo on my computer and organizing them. Which is not an easy task considering I have around 30,000 of them. It's crazy!

But, I'm sick of living in the chaos. I can't function like this.

As I was going through photos, I came across these two and decided to put them together for all to see. I just can't figure out how to get them to be bigger. So, if you click on them, it should pull up a bigger size:).

The first photo was taken when Kaylyn and Ashton were one the summer of 2005. The most recent was taken a few weeks ago when KK's cousins came to visit us.

It is crazy how much these two look alike. Jason's sister, Heather, and I are always joking about how all of our children end up looking like Jason. It is pretty true! Even my beautiful girly girl looks more like her daddy than she looks like me. He must have some strong genetics.

A musical artist emerged and I saw the MOST creative song arrangement I've ever witnessed on the show.

Normally I know exactly what the song is the minute they open their mouths. But, this took me a bit to figure out (I didn't hear the introduction by Ryan).

'Billy Jean' by Michael Jackson......are you kidding me? That is just sick (in a good way).

David Cook is a musical genius. He is bold, creative, brave, and innovative. I would totally go out and buy his CD right this moment.

I was a HUGE Carly fan from the start. But, David Cook totally stole my vote from her last night.

Can I just say that this is the best season so far on American Idol? I have never liked this many of the contestants. And the guys are showing some mad skills this season. I appreciate true musicians who can get up there and do more than just sing a song.

Michael Johns is another one of my favorites! He did great last night singing a Queen song (which is always a winner in my books).

Bare with me for a moment here and cut me some slack. We don't have cable and this is the only show I even watch on the two channels that we can pick up (salt and pepper style) so I find myself getting really into it this time around.

Who is your favorite???

If you still aren't watching this show with the rest of the entire country, you should. This season is filled with some incredible talents.

Monday, March 24, 2008

We were down by the barn today checking out all of the animals. There is so much life around the barn. It is really a spectacular place.

Here is studly Dudley our male pig. He is a gentle pig and so much fun to watch. Dudley has quite the personality. While we were down at the barn, we freed Dudley and let him roam in the pasture by the barn because most of the time he is in his own little space.Then he started acting up (which is why Jason has him in his own little space).

This is what he does.And this is why he does it! To waller or not to waller?Dolly is our rag doll cat. We think she might be due some kittens soon. This is Kaylyn's cat and you can find her carting this cat around on her hip most of the time.While we were down at the barn, Kaylyn had the bright idea to go goat ropin'.And pig ropin'.And chicken ropin'. This is Kaylyn tiptoeing to capture an unsuspecting chicken. How cute!"I can't catch the chicken. He is too fast."So, on the way back she wanted to play hide and go seek. I think I want to frame this one really big on my wall!!

Friday, March 21, 2008

Kaylyn has the most giving heart. She is always thinking of others and ways to make their day.

One of the joys of having this precious daughter of mine, is being a constant recipient of flowers during the spring and summer months. She would give them to me year around if flowers bloomed that long.

Pictured above are bluebonnets that Kaylyn blessed me with a few days ago. We know you aren't supposed to pick these (won't you get arrested or something?), but we have fields of them on our land. Picking a few 'never hurt nobody'!

I was reminded of what a blessing Kaylyn is in our lives after a not so joyful moment with her the other day at our local Wal-Mart. I was less than pleasant for my children to be around for about the 10 minutes it took us to get home in order to prove the point of my disapproval in what she had done.

As I huffed and puffed up the steps and into our house after a defeated trip to Wal-Mart, the first thing my eyes locked with were my fragrant filled bluebonnets.

My heart sank and I went to Kaylyn to apologize for being so selfish in my anger.

I'm reading a fantastic book that I recommend all wives, mothers, and single women read. It is called Feminine Appeal: Seven Virtues of a Godly Wife and Mother by Carolyn Mahaney (love this lady).

I'll leave you with a quote from the book.

I seldom feel like much of an adventurer- standing in the kitchen, pouring cereal into bowls, refilling them, handing out paper towels when the inevitable cry comes: "Uh oh, I spilled." But sometimes at night the thought will strike me: There are three small people here, breathing sweetly in their beds, whose lives are for the moment in our hands. I might as well be at the controls of a moon shot, the mission is so grave and vast.

God's word reminds us when we feel so overwhelmed in these moments and when it seems as though the task at hand is too great.

"My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." 2 Cor. 12:9

Thursday, March 20, 2008

I promise to not make every post on 'Creative Turf' about photography.

But, I stumbled upon this chicks blog and have fallen in love with her photography, colors, and artsy craftsy stuff. She does some pretty cool things to display photos all over her home which I'm a huge fan of.

She created this masterpiece out of vinyl wall decals that she designed and had printed. Vinyl wall art is HUGE right now. It sure beats stenciling. There are several companies online that you can submit your own designs to or purchase one of their existing designs. I will have more on these later.

This is one of the most darling ways that I have seen to display a family photo. Those are their real heads and not their real bodies. I LOVE this. Couldn't you see the Kramer crew with overalls on and a tractor in the background or something??? Precious! Claudine Hellmuth did this collage of the Thompson family. You should check out Claudine's website called collageartist.com. It rocks!

Here is just a sample of her incredible photography skills. She's got skills!

The creative whiz herself!

HERE is some great advice on photography and post-processing from Danielle. I love that she has a great camera that isn't too extreme compared to what is out there and a few good lenses. She works her magic with her gear that's for sure.

What I love about her photography is that it takes place in her home for the most part and it is of her family. This just goes to show that you don't need fancy background or strobes or loft studio. With a creative eye and anticipating those precious moments that take place within our homes daily, we can capture some of the most beautiful moments.....LIFE as it happens.

You should definitely go over to her blog and check out her stuff. You will be blown away by the vivid colors and creative ways that she captures her family. She also has a great eye for design and has several crafty ideas within her blog. I could post a ton of other pictures, but I want you to go pay her a visit and see for yourself.

A big ole' Texas 'howdy'!

Welcome to "5 Chicks and a Farmer." We are a Jesus-loving family living on a farm hatching one chick at a time- literally! Jason is a passionate farmer (who has super hero capabilities wrapped around a heart of gold.....or at least I think so). I am a wife, mommy, and farmhand who loves photography. We are homeschoolers and homesteaders. We have 4 precious girls!